Ruby Ibarra (born February 25, 1988) is a Filipino-American rapper, music producer, and spoken word artist from San Lorenzo, California. She raps in

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...

Waray Waray may refer to: * Waray people of the Philippines * Waray language, the fifth most spoken native language of the Philippines, spoken by the Waray people * Waray literature * Warray language Warray (Waray) was an Australian language spoken ...

, and English. Her raps concern her cultural heritage and her experiences as an immigrant to the United States from the Philippines. In 2023, Ibarra co-founded a record label, Bolo Music Group, which highlights Filipino American artists.

Early life

Ibarra was born in the Philippines. Ruby spent around four years of her life in the city of Tacloban, she was inspired by a television performance by Filipino rapper Francis Magalona. Her family immigrated to San Lorenzo, California, and she was raised in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

. She attended the University of California, Davis and performed with spoken word collective, SickSpits. Ruby attributes her identity in music from growing up in the early nineties with hip-hop influences of Tupac,

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

, Wu-Tang Clan, etc.

Music career

Ibarra released her ''Lost In Translation'' mixtape, hosted by DJ Kay Slay, on December 12, 2012. The mixtape debuted that evening on

's Shade45 channel on Sirius XM Radio, where she was interviewed live by DJ Kay Slay. On November 5, 2015, she officially signed to independent record label, Beatrock Music, and announced that she would release her full-length debut album with them in 2016. She began recording the album with Fatgums in Inglewood, California, in March 2016. On October 3, 2017, she released her album ''Circa 1991'' where she documents social justice issues like

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...

and trauma, and she made her mark in her local music industry. She is described by people as reflective of who they are and the experiences they have had in the United States. In January 2018, Ruby was featured in a national MasterCard TV commercial with singer

SZA Solána Imani Rowe (born November 8, 1989), known professionally as SZA ( ), is an American singer and songwriter. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she began making music in the early 2010s, releasing two extended plays before signing with the hip ...

and other breakout artists to promote the Start Something Priceless campaign. In 2018, Ruby Ibarra has done 6 projects with The Filipino Channel: ''Cinematografo: Performance and Music Licensing- Discovering Routes: Music Licensing- Kasayahan Festival in Daly City: Performance- 24x24: Feature not yet released- Balitang America: Jocelyn Enriquez x Ruby Ibarra Feature- Gifts of Love: Performance for ABS CBN Foundation.'' Ruby Ibarra's 2018 documentary - Nothing on US: Pinays Rising - was featured in multiple countries and film festivals including Guam, Toronto, San Francisco, and Boston. On June 29, 2019, Ibarra performed at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival alongside DJ Mister REY on the

National Mall The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and va ...

in Washington, D.C. Ibarra performed at The Getty on February 15, 2020, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. On August 29, 2021, Ibarra performed at A Night of "Pinoy"tainment! at John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Los Angeles In 2023, Ibarra was awarded a Vilcek Foundation award for Creative Promise with a cash prize of $50,000. That same year, Ibarra co-founded her record label Bolo Music Group, which highlights Filipino American artists. In addition to Ruby’s individual platforms, she has team support from the following platforms to distribute her content: Myx TV (CableTv & Online broadcast in more than 15 million households on cable providers such as Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Bright House and DIRECTV) and DASH Radio (a global digital radio broadcasting platform with more than 80 original stations and 10 million+ listeners around the world). Ibarra has 45,400 subscribers on

Youtube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

and combined presence of nearly 3 million views on YouTube. Recent partnerships & features include the following corporations: * Pandora *

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ances ...

Reebok Reebok International Limited () is an American fitness footwear and clothing manufacturer that is a part of Authentic Brands Group. It was established in England in 1958 as a companion company to J.W. Foster and Sons, a sporting goods company ...

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

( Mastercard) * BRWNGRLZ *

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. ...

* ''Vice'' *

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's ...

* NPR Ibarra's song "''Us,''" featuring

Rocky Rivera Rocky Rivera (born Krishtine de Leon; December 1, 1982) is a Filipino-American rapper and journalist from San Francisco, CA. She is a member of the hip-hop labelBeatrock Music where she gained recognition for her socially conscious lyrics and adv ...

, Klassy and Faith Santilla, can be found in the video game NBA 2K23.

Style

Ibarra describes her style as reminiscent of 1990s hip hop; she cites Lupe Fiasco and

Raekwon Corey Woods (born January 12, 1970), better known by his stage name Raekwon The Chef, or simply Raekwon (), is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, which achieved mainstream succe ...

as her influences.

Personal life

Ibarra is a UC Davis graduate. She lives in Hayward and previously worked as a scientist in the quality-control department of a Bay Area biotech firm. Ruby's mother had an accounting degree from Philippines before she migrated to the US with Ruby and her sister to fulfil her American Dream. Ruby Ibarra co-founded the Pinay Rising scholarship program for mainly Filipina students in higher education, who are also pursuing visual & performing arts or any social work field.

Discography

Albums

* ''Circa91'' (Beatrock Music, October 3, 2017)

EPs

* ''Lost in Translation mixtape'' (Independent, December 2012)

Videography

* 2018: ''Here'' * 2018: ''Us'' * 2019
Taking Names

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibarra, Ruby Living people American spoken word artists University of California, Davis alumni People from Tacloban Musicians from Leyte (province) People from San Lorenzo, California Filipino women rappers 1988 births American rappers of Filipino descent American rappers of Asian descent Rappers from California Musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers